Chapter 21

Strange things I’ve believed in (9)

‘You think I’m going to start a fight here?’

There was no way I could be so happy to torment him, who didn’t do anything particularly wrong to me.

‘Or does he hate being in the same room as me?’

It was a reasonable thought, but it was somewhat unfair.

I was still a real person.

Now I knew clearly that Ian was not the one I should hate.

Whether it felt unfair or not, Ian stood there and stared at me for a very embarrassing amount of time.

Braden, the Duke of Wade, punched him in the back and pushed him in. He almost had to drag Ian in front of us.“Long time no see, Prince.”

“The Duke of Wade, Ian.”

Robert stood up pleasantly and held out his hand. I also got tangled up following suit.

“It’s nice to see the rich coming side by side. This is my partner, Miss Annabelle Nadit.”

“Hello, I’m Annabelle Nadit.”

“I’ve heard a lot from Leslie, but it seems like this is my first time greeting you.”

Braden said while smiling nicely.

“Nice to meet you.”

…I didn’t know what things Leslie talked to him about.

“After the performance, I want to have a deeper conversation to say thank you. I’m glad your foot is okay.”

“Oh… yes.”

I suppose.

When I heard him mention the story of my foot, he seemed to be referring to the event where that bookmark exploded.

Perhaps because Ian’s parents believed in their child’s abilities, they didn’t seem to be at all wary of Ian’s ‘self-proclaimed rival’.

“Ian, you need to say hi.”

Braden muttered while stabbing Ian on the side, and Ian greeted everyone with a dry voice.

Did he really have to make his dislike that obvious?

Of course, considering what I had done so far, that was the case.

“Then I hope you have a good time.”

Braden smiled politely and sat down with Ian.

‘Well, it’s good to be close, but isn’t this too close?’

Braden dragged Ian to the seat next to us.

Was he even pushing Ian to sit next to me?

I became slightly more nervous as I watched Ian take one more shot of the welcome drink brought by the maid and asked for another drink.

‘Are you that thirsty?’

In any case, he drank the drug that Reid had prepared in an instant.

Now, all that remained was to create a place for the two of us at the earliest possible time and pour in the antidote.

‘I can see the end of this annoying act now! Bye everyone. Bye forever.’

All sorts of rumors would be spread about me, but Robert, who didn’t care, and Ian, who had to be criticized by me without any guilt, could now live peacefully after all this.

“Ian.”

Robert said with a smile on his face.

“Isn’t Miss Annabelle really pretty today? She wears old training uniforms every day, so I didn’t know.”

To that, Ian replied bluntly.

“I don’t know.”

Braden gave him a strange expression, but he did not intervene.

Then, Robert spoke as if he was trying to comfort me.

“Don’t worry too much. Ian is the type of person who can’t distinguish these kinds of things as well as I thought. This isn’t a swordsmanship competition venue.”

“It’s okay. I was only a little offended.”

I shrugged and answered.

Ian didn’t even look at me with his arms crossed. It was the epitome of complete ignorance.

Well, it’s been that way so far.

Even sitting in a chair, he was completely attached to the farthest side away from me and was being motionless.

‘You don’t even want to accidentally touch me… That’s amazing.’

The last time I grabbed his wrist and hit him, he seemed to be in a very bad mood.

Of course, if it was a normal human being, that person would be ashamed.

He kept his silence and continued to ask the maid for water while gulping it down.

‘Drink more, drink more. Drink up too.’

While I was talking with Robert, the curtain finally came up.

‘He’ll go to the bathroom once.’

From drinking all that water.

‘Aim for that time.’

Like a wild beast eyeing on its prey, I waited for the perfect time.

~*~

There were people watching Annabelle and Robert.

They were the Marquis of Abedes and his two sons.

They all had light purple hair.

His eldest son, Richard, and his second son, Elburn, were both highly regarded for their talents.

It was rare for an aristocratic family to be able to attend an opera like this.

Richard had a huge role in administration and Elburn in the finance department, so they could receive invitations respectively.

“Father.”

Elburn frowned and asked.

“What the hell are they up to?”

“Well.”

“You really don’t want to do anything with Prince Robert, do you?”

The Marquis of Abedes and his two sons were fully aware of Annabelle’s existence.

There was no way they wouldn’t have known that she won second place in the swordsmanship competition.

The moment she took first place, Annabelle would be recognized as a member of the Marquis’s family.

The Marquis of Abedes had no intention of accepting Annabelle, who was born out of a fleeting lust.

She was a child born by mistake from the very beginning. Then he gave up quite a fortune to get Caitlyn out, so he didn’t even care.

It was the same with Richard and Elburn.

They had no intention of accepting her, an illegitimate child, as their sister.

As such, they had been consistently living with complete indifference to Annabelle’s upheaval.

Anyways, this will be the last swordsmanship competition Annabelle will risk her life for since there will be an age limit with no permanent recognition as a member of the Marquis’s family.

“But I think it’s true that Prince Robert thinks she’s special.”

The Marquis of Abedes frowned and muttered.

“I would not have come to such an official event like this unless a lot of money were involved.”

It was completely unexpected for Annabelle to receive such attention.

“Won’t the Crown Prince be offended?”

Elburn asked nervously, biting his nails.

“Anyways, everyone knows that he is the king’s child.”

Then, with his eyes bright, he continued.

“I wonder if I should give her a firm warning not to go wild and tarnish the name of Abedes.”

At that moment, Richard, who had been silent, intervened slowly.

“Well. Wouldn’t it be better to use this opportunity instead?”

“Use?”

“If we use that child well, it could be an opportunity to be recognized as the Crown Prince’s closest aide.”

Everyone knew that the Marquis of Abedes supported the Crown Prince.

However, there were many aristocratic families who were lining up to support the Crown Prince.

This was because, of course, most nobles believed that the Crown Prince would become the next emperor.

Among them, the Marquis of Abedes had never done much for the Crown Prince.

Therefore, Richard was proposing to use Annabelle to make sure that the eyes were painted on this occasion.

“The Crown Prince really hates Prince Robert.”

Richard said thoughtfully.

“And Annabelle’s the one who’s been working like crazy to be in our family.”

“I’ve never thought of her as family.”

Elburn was annoyed, but Richard continued, completely ignoring him.

“If we try to persuade Prince Robert to steal information, he might blow everything up since we’ve never pretended to know him.”

“Right.”

Marquis Abedes nodded slowly at Richard’s words.

“Elburn, the future of the family is at stake. I’m starting to think that she can do something useful for us for the first time. She’s a love-hungry kid anyway. Besides, she’s desperate to be in our family. We’ll do everything we can if we just lie a little bit and give her some hope of being a member of the family.”

Marquis Abedes smiled and told his two sons.

“Go and say hello when the opera is over.”

“Father!”

Elburn protested immediately, but Marquis Abedes continued to speak.

“Tell her that you’re sorry for neglecting her, and that you want to interact in the future. If she doesn’t like it, then give her a jewel. Slowly break her guard down and bring her to our side.”

He glanced once again at Annabelle, who was chatting with Robert.

~*~The opera was in full swing.

“Oh, you were such a good man. Why did you change so much?”

A singer on stage named Aria had her voice fill the concert hall.

“Crazy, you’re really crazy. You’re not who I used to know!”

Ian was staring vacantly at the stage, biting his lower lip.None of the opera’s contents went in his head.

Why did Braden want to sit in this seat…?

His eyes were on the singer, but all his attention was on the side.

Robert whispered something to Annabelle, and she giggled and laughed. Ian, who glanced at them, stood up quietly.

He felt like he had to go out for a while, get a hold of himself, and come back in.